“Miami’s very political, and he feels more at ease, more relaxed here,” said Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, the longtime announcer who’s working on the A’s Spanish broadcasts this year. “When I met (Céspedes), I said, ‘I will not ask you anything political.’ He said, ‘Even if you did, I won’t talk about it.’

“From that indication, he doesn’t want to get involved. He just wants to play ball. He could be idolized in Miami, but the pressure would be humongous … The Marlins never had a big Cuban superstar (hitter). He could be a hero on that team, but if he lays an egg, the pressure could be bigger than in Oakland.”

Pressure to perform, sure. But what happens the first time he does a putatively fluff interview for the Sunday insert and says something like “I met Castro at a state dinner once. He could really dance well” and he doesn’t back that up with a condemnation of his policies?

Probably the bigger pressure would have been being the unofficial (and probably unwilling) political poster child for the anti-Castro groups in Miami. For any athlete who just wants to play baseball (and make millions of dollars), that’s a hellish minefield of its own.

We’ll see how smart he is. Last night Duffy threw him the same way he’s been pitched for the last 5 games. Hard stuff in, breaking stuff down and away. He’s hitting the mistakes hard (ie homer off Vargas, double off King Felix) but if those pitches are executed, he’s an out without contact. He needs to make adjustments, like any other successful MLB hitter.